GM Moves for Adversaries
For those coming to Daggerheart from D&D, you might not be familiar with "GM moves", as the Apocalypse likes to describe it. Daggerheart allows GMs to do all kinds of wild things when it's the GM's "turn", and attacking is often not the best choice.
If you're still learning how to use GM moves, here's a tip: As you're familiarizing yourself with the monster stat blocks, pick a GM move that it could participate in that's not in its stat block.
It makes the game vibrant, without making everything feel like "attack" / "defend".
- Bruisers are great to force the party to split up. The bear doesn't "attack" the party, it backhands the Guardian through the air across the stream, tumbling to their feet. Now it's just the Syndicate Rogue and the Divine Wielder facing off against the angry bear.
- Hordes are great at capturing something important. Your sword may be strong but if you're wading through horde of zombies you might lose your pack or your inventory weapon.
- Leaders are great at clearing a temporary condition or effect. "Get up, you miserable maggot!"
- Ranged are great at taking away an opportunity or shifting the environment. Trick arrows, grappling hooks, nets, shooting blobs of acid - think of all the cool stuff Hawkeye / Robin Hood does, and then do that to your players. Ranged adversaries are great at making the terrain way more variable.
- Skulks are great at leaning on the characters goals. If your fights involve more than just standing toe to toe and murdering each other (your fights do involve more than standing toe to toe and murdering each other, right?), Skulks - by their nature - can be moved in a scene to where you need them to be to spur the players to action. GM move: You notice the Dire Wolf about to pounce on beloved NPC at the back of the fight. GM move: You notice the Jagged Knife Shadow about to leave the window with the crown jewels. Et cetera, et cetera.
- Solos can do anything, but I'm fond of collateral damage. If the PCs roll success with fear, boom, toss a little collateral damage their way. Fights aren't clean. Make the PCs feel that.
- Support are great at revealing an unwelcome truth or unexpected danger. Look at that example - any Adversary can slam a PC into the wall and restrain them until they escape. (Assuming the fiction allows it.) That Hexer starts Hexing. The Fallen Sorcerer starts summoning a portal to the underworld in the middle of the battle - now that's rough terrain. Et cetera.
If you prepare a few GM moves before the game gets underway, you'll have them ready when you need them, until you internalize them.